You must pay the rent! I can’t pay the rent! You must pay the rent! I can’t pay the rent!
The internet tells me this classic confrontation between a greedy landlord and a penniless young damsel dates back at least to an 1867 play called “Under the Gaslight.” (Gaslight, indeed!) We boomers had it embedded in our consciousness by the cartoon series “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” which several subsequent generations have probably seen in re-runs.
